Webinar: A History of American Pharmacy

Pharmacy and medicine in Colonial America relied largely on traditional practices and homemade remedies. Many medicines of the period were derived from plants, some of which had therapeutic value, though often not targeted for the appropriate clinical condition. Robert L. McCarthy is Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Connecticut.  He will discuss how physicians during this period practiced heroic medicine, which included bleeding patients and the use of emetics and purgatives. He provides an overview of American pharmaceutical practices from the Colonial era to today, including changes in education and licensure requirements, and the development of professional organizations.